Frozen Love
by AngelShep
Summary: Challenge: Fury knew the day he made that decision, it would come back biting him in the ass. He didn't know how though, but that was of little importance then. It was about an asset, a founder of SHIELD. They couldn't afford to lose him. "You better tell me you didn't do that."


**Hi! So here's the one-shot in response to LaNaturalBreezeOf-Books' challenge. **

**Here it is: **_Howard Stark Gets Unfrozen From Where He Was Frozen And Then He's Kept A Secret Until Fury Decides To Show Him To The Avengers, Tony Freaks Out And The Responses Are Very Predictable You Can Decide And Then It's Like A Fix-it Fic. Or Just A Tony Whump Fic Or A Mix Of Both._

**I hope you'll like it!**

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**Frozen Love**

Fury knew the day he made that decision, it would come back biting him in the ass. He didn't know how though, but that was of little importance then. It was about an asset, a founder of SHIELD. They couldn't afford to lose him.

When he arrived at the place of the accident that took away Maria Stark's life, he couldn't believe Howard was still alive – admittedly barely. His life was hanging on such a thin rope, the doctors believed it was only a matter of hours. The only thing that could be done was to call their son so he could say his final goodbyes.

Fury stopped them.

Recently the SHIELD searchers had come up with some kind of crystallization process. They had tried it on small animals, keeping them frozen but alive. Fury knew it was what he needed in that moment. If Howard couldn't be saved with what medicine existed in this time, who's to say it would still be true in a decade or more?

In an hour, the crystallization dispositive was ready and Howard's still breathing body was frozen while the director pulled up some strings to arrange the news of Howard Stark's death. Unfortunately the body had been lost but considering the force of the accident, there were no chance he could possibly be alive. No one would dare question it.

When the funeral came, Fury stared at the procession at distance, he wondered if he would be alive when Howard Stark would come back into the living world. Would his son – whom he could see standing straight, hands clasped in front of him, eyes hidden behind dark sunglasses – be alive then? He guessed only time would tell.

As it turned out, they both were.

Twenty-one years. That was how long it took for progress to be enough to save Howard Stark. When the doctors told him they could do it, he immediately gave the green light. Of course things might get complicated, more than he thought they would be because Stark was Iron Man and a part of the Avengers, and Captain America was alive and kicking and around SHIELD. Back then he thought he could just let Howard lay low inside of SHIELD but that would be difficult with two people he knew very likely to run into him.

He didn't want to think about what would happen once Stark heard about this. He still remembered that conversation he had with the man about his father. This was not something he was looking forward to.

So right now it would stay a secret until at the very least Howard took some marks in this new time and knew what happened during his absence.

That was how he found himself with the man, inside his new room, telling him what happened that day.

"Maria… I… I should have died, shouldn't I?" he asked, looking at the headline of the old newspaper Fury had given him. He wasn't expecting an answer though, knowing already what it would be.

"Your son took over Stark Industries when he turned twenty-one and has been running it since then. The world has changed, Howard, since your… 'death'."

The man sat on the bed and took a photo of Tony, that was taken just a few days before during a press conference held in New York to talk about the Avengers and the rebuilding of the city. He was his usual flamboyant self, all sharp and charming smiles, sparkling and playful eyes, dressed with one of those expensive suits he wore so well. He had been witty, quick, directing journalists where he wanted them to go and avoiding touchy subjects with such agility and flare, you could only be baffled and in awe. He had them eating right out of the palm of his hand.

"This is… Tony?"

"Yes, it is Howard. It's your son. It was taken not so long ago." The director watched as the man let his hand follow the outline of Tony's figure and didn't say anything, waiting. He wasn't going to push the man into anything, he knew better.

"Tell me. Tell me everything I need to know about this new world."

And so he did.

~~{}~~

"Yes, Pepper, I'll be there." Tony avoided an agent going the opposite direction and sighed. He moved quickly and confidently in the Helicarrier's corridors, nodding at the people he passed and ignoring how they rolled his eyes at him. He _lived_ to annoy SHIELD. "I don't know what that meeting's for but it shouldn't be long. I'll be back in no time for that meeting with the head scientists."

He turned right and entered Fury's office, nodding at all the Avengers who were already there, waiting for the meeting to start. Fury raised an eyebrow in his direction and he held up a finger, indicating this was an important phone call. "Okay, just… don't forget the last updates for the reactors and the report on…"

"I know, don't worry. It will go very smoothly Pepper, you know me. Science? No prob!" He grinned cheekily as he took his seat next to Bruce who shook his head at his words. Tony shrugged and leaned his head back. It was true; if there was one meeting he dreaded less than the others, it was the one with the R&D department. _Those_ were actually interesting and the scientists truly wanted his input.

"Tell Fury if he does anything to put you in a bad mood before that meeting, I'll take care of his only functional eye," she warned, deadly serious. Tony chuckled and glanced at the director who was staring at him with his arms crossed.

"I'll tell him. I'll see you."

"Yeah."

He hung up and turned fully to the table, putting both his hands on it and raised his eyebrows expectantly. His eyes swept over Clint who had his sunglasses on his nose and seemed to be dozing off (did Fury notice or was he just pushy with him?), Natasha who was looking very amused as she looked protectively over the archer, Steve who was giving him a half-annoyed, half-bored look (whatever that meant), Thor who was talking quietly with Bruce, looking very serious and intent (what could they be talking about?).

"So what's this meeting about? And make it quick I have an important one I need to go to and I care about my sexual life enough to know I _do_ want one." He smirked at Steve's blushing face and Natasha's upturned nose in disgust. "By the way, Nicky honey, I'm sure you care about that eye so…" He gave his best innocent grin. "Pepper's word, not mine, no putting me in a bad mood." He waved one finger at him, narrowing one eye. "Be nice."

Fury sighed but didn't bother replying to him. "This doesn't concern all of you, but I think you all need to know."

"Okay, I'll catch up later then!" He moved his chair back, ready to get up when Fury's voice stopped him.

"You're one of the people whom are concerned by this, Stark." Tony let himself fall back in his chair and crossed his arms, rolling his eyes. "Now that's settled…" He rose from his seat and clasped his hands behind his back. Tony narrowed his eyes at him, wondering what made the director nervous. He could see the signs – straight back, eye on Natasha (because she was always so stoic she was the least likely to make him go off track), the tone of voice that sounded unsure (as unsure as Fury could be). "Twenty-two years ago the scientists came up with a way to… freeze people without killing them. And when they would be needed, we could unfreeze them."

"So you're saying that you have a freezer somewhere with _people_ in it?" Tony cut him off, not knowing if he was more disgusted or stunned by the fact such technology existed for twenty years now. "Wait. And how does that concern me?"

"The first person we froze was dying. They only had a few hours left, and they couldn't be saved back then. But now… We did save them." Fury's arm twitched and he licked almost _imperceptibly_ his lips.

And Tony had a very bad feeling about this. He could add two and two, he was a _genius_ damn it and this… this felt so wrong because he couldn't believe someone would have done that, but then it was _SHIELD_. Of course they would do it if it meant not losing an asset, something important to them. Twenty-two years they developed the technique. Twenty-one years ago, his father died. He was _concerned_, someone was _dying_. The dates added up.

"You better tell me you didn't do _that_," he spat, eyes darkening. He could feel cold anger fill him, making his fingertips tingling with the desire to throw something at Fury's head for doing something like that. He breathed in and out calmly, the perfect picture of being in control and collected when deep inside he was on the verge of running away from SHIELD and his_ father_.

"Stark, he would have died if…"

"Then let him be dead!" he snapped, rising from his seat. "I buried him! Twenty-one years ago! I buried an empty casket and now… _Now_ you're telling _me_ that he's there, breathing, walking around, living, just because, _because_ you couldn't afford to lose him. Do you realize how _damn_ wrong this is!"

"Stark, calm down. Would you rather having us let him die? He's alive, shouldn't you be at the very least happy?" Fury tried.

Tony shook his head in disbelief. "Happy? You took advantage of the fact he was dying and couldn't make that decision for himself. You didn't care that it was a person, you only saw the asset he was." It sounded dangerously too close to home (_Iron Man, yes, Tony Stark, no_) but he didn't care. What was Fury expecting? That he would jump for joy? He had accepted his parents' death. He didn't just bury bodies (or lack of), he buried _them_. He accepted being an orphan, he accepted the fact he could never salvage his relationship with his father. And now…

Now here Fury was telling him, it was all for nothing because his father was still alive.

"Stark, you're not thinking clearly, you need time to adjust to the idea. I know you and…"

"You don't know anything." On those words, he pushed his chair away (ignoring how strong he pushed it and the fact it crashed into the wall) and walked to the door. Unfortunately for him, it opened to someone and he slammed head first into them, knocking himself into the ground. "Shit."

An outstretched hand appeared in his vision and he heard someone gasp, quick footsteps which stopped abruptly. And then a voice. _His_ voice. "Hey there, let me help you."

He froze for a moment, eyes fixed on the hand, that hand which belonged to none other than the one person he didn't want to see right now. He could see the calluses in the palm, the hard and dry skin of it, the little scars on the fingers, all proofs this hand was used to difficult work, one where you needed to bend down, to get dirty, to try and try again and again until it was not just good, but perfect because lives depended on it.

His father's hand.

He had to get _out of here_. He certainly wasn't prepared to that confrontation, to talk to him and just face him in general. He ignored the hand, going as far as to push the arm away and got up onto his feet.

"Are you…" The words stopped when his eyes fell on his face. He stumbled back in surprise, mouth opened to say something but the dark look Tony threw him probably stopped him. Not for long unfortunately. "Tony, I… Can we talk? We have so…"

"Save it for someone who cares," he cut in sharply, eyes cold and not letting any emotion show. He put the sunglasses that were in his pocket on his nose and walked out of the room, pushing his father's shoulder for good measure with his own.

He had to leave before a dam broke loose and he snapped. Forty years of pent-up emotions of frustration and anger and sadness and self-doubt, self-hate, of feeling he wasn't enough, feeling he was a failure, someone his father couldn't be proud of, were ready to burst, boiling just under the surface.

He needed to be alone.

~~{}~~

In the end, Tony didn't go to the meeting. He couldn't. He wasn't in the mood to deal with people, to hear them ask him advice about tech and stuff. He knew Pepper would come down barging in the shop the moment she could to berate him.

He stared at the blue shining screen in front of him, not really seeing it. It didn't matter what it was, it simply was an excuse, make it seem like he was busy and not just staring into space, memories and thoughts boiling in his mind. Every single disappointed look, every single brush off, every single tear he wasted on his father, every single time he built something to impress him only to end up destroying it. It was all rushing back to the surface and the words, those _damn fucking_ words.

_What is and always will be my greatest creation is you._

He grabbed the nearest thing and threw it at the wall in frustration before putting his elbows on the desk next to him and pushing the palms of his hands onto his eyes, closing them. His body shook as a sob threatened to break out. He couldn't cry, not over this. He was done crying for his father.

The noise of high heels hitting the cold marble floor echoed behind him and his lips quirked upwards – barely, just a second. Hands fell on his shoulders, gently massaging them. "You miss the meeting," she stated. Then she let her hands slide down his chest until her head was on his shoulder. "What happened?" she asked softly, closing her arms around him.

"My father's alive," he whispered. He felt her tense then go slack again. Her arms disappeared and she moved to sit on the desk next to his arms. Her fingers wrapped around his hands and pried them away from his eyes. She put her hand under his chin and made him look up. He stared into her blue eyes for a moment before looking away, hands falling on his lap.

"How?" she murmured.

"Some kind of freezing device of SHIELD." He shrugged. "I don't know, I don't _care_. I just…" He sighed and rubbed a hand over his face.

"Tony," she stressed out. He looked back at her and saw her eyes were on a point behind him, near the door. He frowned and turned his chair around, only to harden his gaze and close his face off when he realized who was standing there.

All the Avengers and his father.

He got up abruptly, making his chair spin, and went to a table where his tools were lying around in a mess. Hopefully they'll get the hint and leave. Worst case scenario: they didn't care about it and stayed. Strangely enough he knew the latter was the right one.

"Tony, I just want to talk to you," his father started, taking a step forward.

He turned to face him so quickly, he made a steel needle (which he used for the meticulous work on Clint's arrows and bows – the diamond one was for his suits which required a stronger point) spin and fly to the ground, the point piercing the skin of his forearm in a long line from his elbow to his wrist. But he didn't even notice it, too focused on his father, mind too set on finally being able to say what he'd been holding back all those years.

"Let's talk, sure, _Dad_," he spat. "Let's talk about how you never even were a dad to begin with. Then let's move on to how you ignored me completely except when you needed to show me off for the company. How about how you actually could never remember my birthday without mom telling you?" Pepper was standing to him and grabbed his arm, cleaning the blood with a towel – he didn't even know where she found it.

He used the time he needed to take a breath to look around at the Avengers. Natasha was looking at him with slightly wide eyes, obviously surprised by his outburst. Clint had his mouth opened and was looking between the both of them with horror and disbelief on his face. Thor was clenching his hands, glaring at his father – something that warmed Tony more than he thought it could, to know the demigod was so much on his side. Bruce's eyes were tinged with green as he stubbornly looked at Pepper's hands moving steadily to take care of his cut. Steve was looking at his once friend with a new startling truth, deep hurt written all across his face.

"I tried…" he started again, more quietly. "So much to just get one look of approval, _anything_." His voice cracked on the last word but he ignored it, his eyes locking with his father's filled with tears ones. "You can't possibly fix a relationship that was…" He shook his head and let out a strangled sound that sounded like a mix between a sob and a laugh. "That was non-existent." He looked away from him to stare at the now covered cut, clenching his fist. "You're thirty years too late."

He drew in a shaky breath before turning around. He walked stiffly in the direction of the other door leading out of the lab. He stopped when he reached it though, the same words coming back to him. It could hardly change anything now, because he truly meant it when he said it was too late. But he needed to hear it, to know for _sure_ whether they were true or not.

So he turned back, noticing Pepper had followed him, as well as Bruce. His father was looking at him with brown eyes – the same eyes as his – filled with tears and so much sadness Tony could hardly believe this was the same man who told him countless times he was too busy to look at his child's toys. "Did you…" he licked his lips and started again. "Did you mean it?" His father frowned, not knowing what he was talking about, of course not, it would have been so easy. "What you said on the recording… for the Expo."

His eyes widened before he nodded, finally letting the tears falling from his eyes. "Of course Tony, I… I'm so sorry for everything."

He nodded vaguely before definitively leaving the room behind, Bruce and Pepper on his heels. He blinked back the tears gathered in his eyes, clenching his fists in order to reduce his shaking. But he didn't make it very far. He stopped in the middle of the corridor and let himself go on the wall, before sliding down to sit on the floor. He brought his legs up and wrapped his arms around them, putting his forehead on his knees. He felt Bruce and Pepper sit next to him and then there was Bruce's comforting hand on his shoulder and Pepper's head on the other, one of her hand on his back and the other over his.

"Let go, Tony, it's okay, we got you," Bruce whispered, squeezing his shoulder.

He let out a pained breath and finally let go, letting the tears fall, whole body shaking from the harsh sobs he had kept inside for so long.

~~{}~~

Tony leaned on the railing, a bottle of scotch by his feet, a glass full of the glinting alcohol in his hands, as he looked over the shining and bustling with life city that was New York. He loved the view, it always had a peaceful effect on him, much like his cliff-side view in Malibu did. There was beauty in both, a different type. One was about nature, waves crashing into rock, again and again, seagulls screaming as they flew around, the sun slowly disappearing in the ocean in the horizon every day, endlessly. The other was just life, humanity, people going on on their day-to-day life, ignoring the tall buildings around them, just living their lives day and night in one of the biggest cities of the world.

He heard the doors somewhere behind him open but didn't turn. He knew whoever it was they would soon reveal themselves, either by talking or by joining him.

The former option was the right one. "I'm sorry," Steve said.

Tony frowned and glanced at him curiously, seizing the man up and the way he shuffled nervously on his feet, keeping his eyes on the floor in the direction opposite him. "Why would you be sorry? You didn't do anything wrong." He narrowed his eyes and tilted his head. "Or did you? Are you about to confess some shameful little secret, Capsicle?" he teased, smirking at the blush that crept up Steve's neck.

The soldier shook his head and rubbed the back of his neck before sighing and letting his arms and shoulders drop. He joined him, glancing disapprovingly at the bottle. "Drinking won't make him disappear, Tony."

He wrinkled his nose and avoided the knowing and soft gaze of the soldier. "No but it soothes the heart – I think, not sure about that one, can't remember what it was exactly. Besides, I'm only putting into practice what he taught me." He raised his glass up mockingly. "Cheers Dad!" And he downed the glass.

"I didn't… I can't believe what…"

"Don't blame yourself over something you couldn't change, Steve. You weren't there. All the guilt in the world won't make it any less true." His lips quirked up and he bent down to grab the bottle only to have it disappear, snatched by someone faster than him. "Come on, Cap," he whined, holding his hand out.

"You talked about a recording." He groaned and let his hand fall back to his side. "What did he say you needed to know about?"

Tony pursed his lips looking back at the city. _What is and always will be my greatest creation is you._ A lot of people who had known his father told him he was a lot like him. Did that mean he didn't let the people he cared about know he did? Did he push them away too? He didn't know what to think anymore. On one side he had years of memories to prove his point, to support his arguments, but on the other hand he had… those little words. Those words that shouldn't mean so much.

Those words he meant.

"He said I was his greatest creation," he whispered, putting the glass on the railing and closing his eyes, focusing on the gentle breeze hitting his face and not on how his heart clenched at the thought that if his father had just told him that years ago, things could be very different.

He felt a firm hand on his shoulder and something being put in his hand, while Steve closed his fingers around it – the bottle.

He opened his eyes in surprise and turned them up to look at Steve who just offered him a smile, blue eyes shining in the night. "You're right, it's too late for him to be a father, but it never meant he didn't love you. He just didn't know how to show it."

He patted his shoulder once before turning around and leaving, not realizing Tony was staring at him completely bewildered, mouth hanging opened. He watched him disappear back inside before finally snapping out of his trance. He moved his gaze to the bottle inside his hand and thought back to his father's tears as he tore down every hope he had that he might be able to salvage the little relationship they once had, he thought back to those words on that recording and the moment he discovered the new element again, saving his life. His quiet _thanks dad_, whispered into his empty half destroyed house.

Steve's last words.

And as he slowly came to the realization that everything was all true – even if they would never be a real family – he let out a smile, grabbing the empty glass and retreating inside the Tower.

He didn't have to see him all the time or to choke his feelings, he just had to be able to know his father had loved him. And that was enough.

He could handle that.

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**I hope Tony wasn't too OOC! Please review!  
**

**AngelShep**


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